Warrawong Plaza

Warrawong Plaza

Location	Warrawong, New South Wales, Australia
Coordinates
Opening date	1960
Management	JLL
Owner	Hong-Kong subsidiary of The Blackstone Group
No. of stores and services	140
No. of anchor tenants	3
Total retail floor area	57,582 m2 (619,807 sq ft)
No. of floors	2
Parking	2,167 spaces
Website	http://www.warrawongplaza.com.au
Information from Westfield and the City of Wollongong

Warrawong Plaza (formerly Westfield Warrawong) is a major shopping centre located in Warrawong, a suburb of Wollongong. With a retail floor area of 57,582 m² (619,807 sq ft), it is currently the second largest shopping centre in the Illawarra region.

History and development

Warrawong Plaza originally opened in 1960 as Lake Market Shopping Centre.

The centre has a current catchment area of 246,680 persons, and retail spending in the catchment area estimated at A$2.3 billion (2005). Annual turnover at the centre for 2005 was $190.4 million with 5.4 million visitors per year. In a 2004 survey conducted by the local city council, it found that the majority of visitors to the centre were attracted by its discount department stores.

Redevelopments

Upon acquisition by The Westfield Group in 1985, the centre was extensively redeveloped and relaunched as Westfield Warrawong in 1988. Further extensions were conducted in 1996, adding a 6,000 m² (64,583 sq ft) Big W to the centre.

Previously, a Big W department store had been an occupant of the centre from 1965, however due to a change in retailling strategy by parent company Woolworths Limited, the then-two-level store was sold to David Jones Limited on April 19, 1971 and converted to a David Jones store which in turn was closed sometime in the mid '80s. By 2011, the centre had grown to 57,582 m² (619,807 sq ft) with 140 retailers.

Acquisition by The Blackstone Group

In August 2015, Scentre Group announced it had sold Westfield Warrawong to a subsidiary of The Blackstone Group along with three other centres as part of sell-off of "non-strategic" assets for a total of $783 Million. At the same time it was announced that Jones Lang LaSalle would be responsible for the management of the centre.

On 11 September 2015, the new management unveiled the new name, Warrawong Plaza, and branding going forward.

Events

In 1999, the centre received significant global coverage of its efforts to deal with shoplifting and anti-social behaivour. In an effort to discourage local youth using the centre as a gathering place, the management used the centre's public address system to play older style music, including Bing Crosby's 1938 song "My Heart Is Taking Lessons".

On 21 September 2004, a man sitting beside a tree outside the centre was the victim of a vehicle accident. The man died after being hit by an out of control sedan as he sat next to a tree outside the centre.

In March 2005, local bus company Premier Illawarra gave serious consideration to suspending one of its Thursday evening services from the centre due to months of increased vandalism and anti-social behaivour in surrounding streets around the centre. Despite the efforts of bus inspectors and transit police, very little had been achieved to curb the problems.

Transport

The centre is serviced by a public bus service operated by Premier Illawarra.

Stores

Major retailers

Major retailers operating within the shopping centre include;

• Coles supermarket
• Target discount department store
• Big W discount department store
• Aldi supermarket
• Homeart retail store
• Best & Less discount clothing store
• Hoyts cinema

Major food restaurants

Major food retailers within the centre include;

• Gloria Jean's
• KFC
• Subway

Former retailers and restaurants

• McDonald's Express (closed early 2012)
• Kmart (closed June 2012)
• Woolworths (closed August 2012)

Further reading

• (43 pages)
• (includes maps and plans)

External links

• Westfield Warrawong official website
• Warrawong Plaza is at coordinates